There are finally signs of life on Broad Street! The Flyers brought the intensity at home tonight against the Winnipeg Jets and received some contributions from unlikely sources to win their third straight game. Defenseman Nick Schultz notched his first goal of the season, and first in 126 games, with assists from Petr Straka (first NHL point) and Ryan White (first Philadelphia Flyer point). Chris Vande Velde, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn & Sean Couturier also scored as the Flyers rolled to a decisive 5-2 victory.
Both teams got off to a strong start in the first. Chris Vande Velde would open the Flyers scoring seven minutes in, followed by Wayne Simmonds' power play goal four minutes later.
Mathieu Perrault (former Calder Cup champion with Hershey for all you 717'ers) scored Winnipeg's only two goals of the game in the first and came close to the hat trick more than once thereafter.
Schultz's goal came in the second. After Ryan White put one on net Petr Straka was there to continuously jab the rebound away from Winnipeg goalie Michael Hutchinson. Schultz, realizing that all three defenders at the puck had their back turned to him, snuck into the melee and shot the puck high past Hutchinson for the goal.
Brayden Schenn added an insurance goal early in the third, rocketing the puck over Hutchinson's shoulder from the middle of the zone, and Sean Couturier found the empty net to make it 5-2.
Steve Mason exceeded expectation tonight, saving 36 of 38 shots faced.
This three game winning streak marks the fourth time this year the Flyers have met that mark. Not yet though, have they been able to turn one of those into a four game winning streak. They'll attempt to make this time different on Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Wells Fargo Center. Puck drop is at 7:00 pm.
-Ben Lebo
@BroadStBeat: Accident free for 3 days!
Mathieu Perrault (former Calder Cup champion with Hershey for all you 717'ers) scored Winnipeg's only two goals of the game in the first and came close to the hat trick more than once thereafter.
Schultz's goal came in the second. After Ryan White put one on net Petr Straka was there to continuously jab the rebound away from Winnipeg goalie Michael Hutchinson. Schultz, realizing that all three defenders at the puck had their back turned to him, snuck into the melee and shot the puck high past Hutchinson for the goal.
Brayden Schenn added an insurance goal early in the third, rocketing the puck over Hutchinson's shoulder from the middle of the zone, and Sean Couturier found the empty net to make it 5-2.
Steve Mason exceeded expectation tonight, saving 36 of 38 shots faced.
This three game winning streak marks the fourth time this year the Flyers have met that mark. Not yet though, have they been able to turn one of those into a four game winning streak. They'll attempt to make this time different on Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Wells Fargo Center. Puck drop is at 7:00 pm.
-Ben Lebo
@BroadStBeat: Accident free for 3 days!